I'm pausing once again on my personal endometriosis journey story to bring you this special "out of order" edition from my current situation. A lot has happened in the 10 years since my Lupron Roller Coaster ride and I promise to catch you up, but today, I had a colonoscopy...the second in my endometriosis journey.
Last night as I went through the second ring of hell known as "colonoscopy bowel prep," I was reminded of an old advertisement skit from Saturday Night Live for a breakfast cereal that came out in November of 1989 and featured Phil Hartman. It was for a fake cereal called "Colon Blow" which is EXACTLY how I felt. The YouTube link for the video is below the photo, so I'll wait here while you laugh for a minute.
Now, I am not going to be all TMI and share with you the gory details of my personal bowel preparation, but I will share a few photos. If you are a bowel prep virgin and want a hilarious introduction to colonoscopy bowel prep, I HIGHLY recommend you read the article by Dave Barry entitled "A Journey Into My Colon - and Yours." For now, here are a few photo highlights from my prep yesterday - which began at 8am.
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Let’s get this #colonoscopy party started!
Magnesium citrate: it's what's for breakfast.
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Every 10 minutes, starting at 6pm... "Bottom's up!"
#MakeItFancy #BowlPrep #InAWineGlass
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OMG! 2-1/2 hours later and I am STILL DRINKING!!!
#NeverEndingBowelPrep
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Yes, I drank my bowel prep out of a wine glass. Yes, for a few minutes after the 2-1/2 hour mark, I felt like I wasn't going to make it. Yes, I just kept pounding that cupful down when my phone timer went off every 10 minutes. Yes, I spent most of the night in the bathroom and/or running to or from it. And yes, by morning, I was exhausted, but clean as a whistle!
I had to arrive for my colonoscopy by 7:15AM which was fine by me since I hadn't had a cup of coffee in over 24 hours and I had quite a caffeine-free headache raging. The sooner I got in, the sooner I could get out and have a cup of café au lait (with dairy for my non-French speaking readers). Dairy was a "no-no" during bowel prep day and I was jonesing.
I'll spare you the minutiae of the day, but when my surgeon came in to talk with me before I got rolled back for the scope, she noted my endometriosis history and I saw it in her eyes: the knowledge of the pain...the understanding. She didn't say that she had it, but I could tell that she was an #endosister and it gave me great peace and calm. She had to examine my abdomen before the procedure because I hadn't met with her previously, but she was gentle and not callously pain-inducing or careless about it as some providers are. She apologized for hurting me and I could see in her eyes that she knew my pain personally. They got me hooked up to an IV and rolled me back. I joked with the nurses - who I knew both, from working at the hospital and because, when you live in a small town, you know everyone. I fell asleep to the doctor saying, "I'll let you know what I see when you wake up."
What seemed to be just a few minutes later, I was awake and the surgeon came in and gave me the diagnoses of the day: mild diverticulosis and a tortuous colon (one that has an excessive amount of sharp bends and turns in it). Neither of these things, she suspected would be significant enough to be the cause of my pain, but the tortuous colon looked like it was caused by external (to the colon) scar tissue or adhesions, some of which could be endometriosis. Her words to me as she left, "I believe that it is your endometriosis or some type of adhesion that is causing your pain," gave me such a feeling of encouragement. I know those statements can only be verified by laparoscopy, but hearing someone in the medical profession validate my pain instead me having to fight to be heard or understood, was a welcome change to the status quo for me.
Most of us who deal with an endometriosis diagnosis constantly need to defend ourselves...have to keep asking questions, push for tests, medications, surgeries, specialists, you name it... It truly shouldn't be that hard, but it is.
Today, as I left the one day surgery building, I felt lighter. Physically, I was 3 pounds lighter from the bowel prep, but I also felt emotionally lighter. I feel confident that the laparoscopy I have scheduled with the endometriosis specialist for next week is the right direction to take. This assurance has removed the weight of worry that no amount of Colon Blow could have rectified.
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